Preparation of food articles, such as produce, typically involves rinsing and drying of the food articles prior to packaging for shipment and sale. Spinning dryers are frequently used to dry rinsed food articles. For example, a perforated or mesh barrel can be filled with wet articles and rotated until the articles are sufficiently dry.
Drying wet food articles in this manner can be time and labor intensive. Each barrel must be filled, spun, and emptied. Current systems and processes fill barrels with wet food articles while the barrels are stationary. To ensure consistent drying of the wet food articles, each barrel must be filled, followed by a settling period, to ensure even distribution of the wet food articles within the barrel. The settling period may add a significant amount of time to the overall drying time of the food articles.
In conventional spinning dryer systems, after food articles are sufficiently dry and the barrels have ceased rotating, the barrels are dumped to empty them of the dry food articles. Waiting for the barrels to become stationary before dumping may also add a significant amount of time to the overall drying time of the food articles.
Further, different food articles may require different drying times and drying speeds. Therefore, spinning dryer systems with improved flexibility (including the ability to selectively fill and dump barrels having different food articles), ease of use, and efficiency may be desirable.